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The Toyota Owners Club (TOC) respects your privacy and is committed to protect the personal information that you share with us. Generally, you can browse through our website without giving us any information about yourself. When we do need your personal information to provide services that you request or when you choose to provide us with your personal information, this policy describes how we collect and use your personal information.

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How We Use Information Collected

TOC uses information for several general purposes: to personalize your experience on our website, to keep you up to date on the latest TOC announcements, special offers or other information we think you'd like to hear about from us, and to better understand your needs and provide you with better services. This is essential to keeping our service free.

We do not share information about individual users in any circumstances.

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A cookie is a small data file that certain Web sites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user ID that the site uses to track the pages you've visited, but the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can't read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Some parts of TOC's website use cookies to track user traffic patterns. We do this in order to determine the usefulness of our website information to our users and to see how effective our navigational structure is in helping users reach that information.

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Your TOC account information is password-protected for your privacy and security. TOC safeguards the security of the data you send us with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure the security of the information you transmit to us, and so we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal data when you are on the Internet. Change your passwords often, use a combination of letters and numbers, and make sure you use a secure browser.

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Our websites do not target and are not intended to attract children under the age of 13. The Toyota Owners Club does not knowingly solicit personal information from children under the age of 13 or send them requests for personal information.

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The Toyota Owners Club's website contains links to other sites. TOC does not share your personal information with those websites and is not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to learn about the privacy policies of those companies.

Our website may contain links to websites operated by other companies. Some of these third-party sites may be co-branded with a TOC logo, even though they are not operated or maintained by The Toyota Owners Club. Although we choose our business partners carefully, The Toyota Owners Club is not responsible for the privacy practices of web sites operated by third parties that are linked to our site. Once you have left our website, you should check the applicable privacy policy of the third party website to determine how they will handle any information they collect from you.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

The Toyota Owners Club will amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information we will make that information available by posting a notice on this site.

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This document was last updated March 3rd, 2005

March 3, 2005

The Toyota Owners Club strives to provide a relaxed and friendly environment for Toyota owners and enthuasists to come together.

An important part of this is being safe from personal attacks and unwanted commercial advertising.

Therefore we insist that in that you register with the club order to participate in our forum discussions.

This registration is free, and involves providing only three pieces of information

See here for our privacy statement

Once registered, you can post new topics or join in existing discussions.

March 3, 2005

Ok - so you have registered, and wish to post a new topic in our forums.

First of all - welcome to the club, thanks for joining up! :D :cheers:

To create a new topic, you should first of all consider what is the most relevant forum for your post.

This is ususally easy - what model Toyota do you have? Selecting the forum that matches your car is a pretty good start! :D

Select your forum by clicking on the forum name.

Look in the top right hand corner of the screen, and work your way down.

You will see two buttons.

One says

and the other says

Click on the new topic button, and you will be asked to supply;

- a topic title

- a topic description

- and the actual topic itself.

Fill these in, and scroll down the screen a bit.

You will see a button that says "Post New Topic" - click on this, and your message will be posted to the forum, where the other members may read it and respond.

Hope you have fun on our forums! :D :D

March 3, 2005

well, the 'normally aspirated' 1.3 starlet has 74bhp, with a 0-60 of about 10.1secs and a top speed of 106..

it depends what you want to know really?

March 3, 2005

The offset of a wheel is the distance from its hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel. The offset can be one of three types.

Zero Offset

The hub mounting surface is even with the centerline of the wheel.

Positive

The hub mounting surface is toward the front or wheel side of the wheel. Positive offset wheels are generally found on front wheel drive cars and newer rear drive cars.

Negative

The hub mounting surface is toward the back or brake side of the wheels centerline. "Deep dish" wheels are typically a negative offset.

If the offset of the wheel is not correct for the car, the handling can be adversely affected. When the width of the wheel changes, the offset also changes numerically. If the offset were to stay the same while you added width, the additional width would be split evenly between the inside and outside. For most cars, this won't work correctly.

Offset Calculator

March 3, 2005

well, keep us informed :D

March 3, 2005

KEY POINTS

World debut of new generation Lexus IS model at the Geneva Motor Show

IS follows new GS model in expressing the Lexus L-Finesse design philosophy

New car equipped with first diesel engine for a Lexus model

2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel unit is most powerful in its class, producing 175bhp, and has class-leading torque output, 400Nm from 2.000 to 2,400rpm

Power, smoothness and refinement of operation meet Lexus’s exceptional standards

New IS also to feature new direct-injection 2.5-litre V6 petrol engine

Six-speed automatic transmission with paddle-shift gearchange to be offered on V6

Superb handling and class-leading safety equipment

10 airbags as standard, including first-in-segment double knee airbag

Radar-controlled Pre-crash Safety System (PCS), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Intelligent Adaptive Front Lighting System (I-AFS) available

European sales to start in late 2005

March 3, 2005

Hi and welcome to the club!

Is this the 1.3 Turbocharged version??

February 28, 2005

Another Online wheel software this one has more wheel options..

February 28, 2005

Click here

You can see what different alloys will look like on your car. Small wheel collection, but you can change the colour and ride height of your car.

February 28, 2005

Hi, and welcome to the club! :D

What you need to bear in mind, is the car works out miles travelled vs fuel used.

Its hard for an in-car Trip computer to be 100% accurate, as it cannot take into consideration stationary consumption, and especially stop/start running.

I wouldnt worry too much, there doesnt seem to be a large descrepency between your calcultion and what the car is saying, and as you mention, you live in a city, so I do imagine you have a lot of stop/start driving..

February 27, 2005

supwall.sized.jpg

Supra..

1024x768

February 27, 2005

MR2 Spyder wallpaper

leswall_002.sized.jpg

February 27, 2005

Echo Wallpaper

robwall.sized.jpg

1024x768 here

February 27, 2005

MR2 Toyota Owners Club wallpaper:

Right click here, and copy shortcut for source to 1024x768 version

February 27, 2005

Styling

This is where you can really let your imagination run free..

One of the simplest and cheapest but most effective modifications is lowering springs (see above), which can give your car a much more agressive stance.

Beyond this, you have Alloy wheels, spoilers, mesh, bodykits etc...

The only limit is your budget..

February 27, 2005

handling

The cheapest and quickest way to improve the handling of your Toyota is to invest in a set of lowering springs. These can cost as little as $150 and will reduce the ride height of your car by 15-50mm (depending on the spring) and they should also stiffen the ride, which would allow for better cornering.

If you do lower your car, you will need a geometrey check, otherwise you will find your tyres will wear unevenly.

If you lower anymore than about 30mm, then this will strain your shock absorbers. You can purchase shorter, performace shocks.

The other option is to purchase coilovers, from about $500 upwards, these are complete units, replacing both springs and shocks, and in most cases offer adjustable ride height. This is a prefferable option if you want the best handling or a low ride.

Other options available are strut braces, which will stiffen your chassis, making the car tighter.

February 27, 2005

Wether its an Echo, Corolla, Camry, MR2, Celica or Supra (or any car for that matter), the basic premisis behind modifying your car is the same.

So, here is an idea where to start, its not an exhaustive list, and there is no iron-cast way to do things, but if your new to modiying, this should at least help get you started...

Performance

The simplest way to start is with the exhaust system, a performance backbox can give anywhere from 2 to 10hp increase in performance for as little as $150. Not only that, but it will allow the engine to rev much easier, and reduce flat spots.

You can also couple this to a de-cat, which is simply removing the catalytic convertor, and this will give another significant gain.

Next, for N/A (normally aspriated engines) there is the option of a Cold air intake induction kit - coupled to the exhaust, this will give another 5-10hp.

If you have a turbo, such as the Supra, then you can get performance filters and cold air intaks for those.

At this point, you will want to consider an aftermarket or piggyback ECU, depending on how far you plan on taking your modifications, a simple Datec Piggyback ECU for $500 could be plenty, but if you have high aspirations, then consider a Greddy Emanage or similar for around $3000.

Both do the same job, they will optmise the air/fuel ratio for your engine, and will allow you to make the most out of your existing modifications.

Beyond this point, it can get expensive.

If you have a N/A, then you should consider a Turbocharger or Supercharger conversion. These can cost anywhere from $2000 to $10000 depending on what you want, but even a basic install should return approximatley 30% increase in power.

If you have a Turbo car, then you may want to consider a larger turbo, pulleys etc.

If you are looking for higher performance, you may want to consider forged pistons etc.., as you double the HP the existing block and internals may not be able to withstand the additional force.

February 26, 2005

For you MR2 Mk2 owners, it seems that the PCD and offset are the same as the Lexus IS300.

So those nice 17" 5 spokes would fit nicely on any Mk2 MR2!

February 26, 2005

Review of the MR2 Spyder with SMT:

From here

Toyota's new Sequential Manual Transmission is cool, but it's not a performance option yet
By Josh Jacquot

Photography: Josh Jacquot

First of all, we hate manu-matics. They're clumsy, slow to shift and pure marketing bunk. We still haven't driven one that offers the control of a real manual transmission, contrary to what the ads claim.

Going in, we thought the new Sequential Manual Transmission in Toyota's MR2 Spyder was going to be more of the same. We figured it to be just another automatic with a slapstick shifter like the one Toyota offers on the Celica. Man, were we wrong. The new SMT is a real clutchless manual transmission, which operates on the same principles as the sequential transmissions found in the Ferrari 360 Modena F1 and Aston Martin Vanquish--both mondo-expensive supercars.

What makes it so cool? Well, it downshifts and matches revs perfectly at the touch of a button or flick of the shifter. Every time. No mistakes. It makes the years we spent learning to heel-and-toe downshift seem wasted.

The key ingredient in the MR2 SMT is the manual gearbox, which is the same manual gearbox found in the five-speed version. We didn't dyno the SMT for this reason. It's realistic to expect dyno numbers between the two cars to be the same. Shifting is handled by simple hydraulic cylinders and a hydraulic pump. In fact, short of those bits, the only other change to the MR2 SMT's powertrain is a drive-by-wire throttle, which is coupled to the SMT's shift logic and used to match revs during downshifts. Which, not coincidentally, is the only time we could tell the throttle isn't controlled through conventional means.

In practice, the SMT is unlike any gearbox we've ever driven, but surprisingly, driving this techno-savvy hot rod becomes intuitive quickly.

Just getting it to turn over requires some fiddling. Toyota has programmed the car to start only in neutral, so you must first select neutral with either the gear selector or the steering wheel-mounted shift buttons.

Once fired, motion is a simple matter of selecting first gear and opening the throttle.

We found ourselves using the gear selector rather the shift buttons on the wheel most of the time--especially during hard driving.

Unlike every manually shiftable automatic we've driven, pulling backwards on the shifter rather than pushing forward initiates upshifts. This is far more intuitive when accelerating. Conversely, you push the lever forward for downshifts, which is another sign this car was put together by real driving enthusiasts. Shifter karts and CART Champ cars use the same set-up.

Once underway, the SMT upshifts and downshifts on command with imperceptible delay, unlike most manu-matics, which think about shifting for a while before they actually do it. But it's also important to note that the SMT drives nothing like a conventional automatic or manu-matic. It doesn't creep from idle when it's in gear or shift unless you tell it to. Need to ride the redline for a few seconds to make it to the next corner? No

problem. The SMT won't do anything you haven't asked for--just like a real manual.

Things aren't perfect however. Yank the lever back a click and the SMT begins to grab the next gear instantly, but the shift takes entirely too long to complete. Upshifts are painfully slow. The system cannot differentiate between city driving and a full mountain road assault. Every upshift takes the same amount of time.

Real enthusiasts will be as frustrated with this aspect of the high-tech tranny as they are impressed with its awesome downshifts. And they are truly awesome. Charge into a second-gear corner in third, slap the shifter forward a click, and the SMT matches revs, shifts down and you're ready to exit under power. Plus, you get to hear the 1ZZ-FE revving its brains out right behind your head.

It's foolproof. Slap the shifter from too high a speed and the SMT simply ignores the request, forcing you to try again once you've slowed enough for the gear you want. Bang it down to first at speed, and the engine gets a double blip before the clutch is engaged. Clearly, the shift logic is carefully calculated by the SMT's computer. Trick stuff. It even defaults to first gear when you stop the car.

Still, the slow upshifts can't be ignored. Our quarter-mile testing illustrated the dramatic difference between the SMT and five-speed MR2's acceleration times. Using a conventional launch, the SMT MR2 is, on average, 1.2 seconds slower through the quarter mile. A closer look at the data shows the SMT to take, on average, almost three times as long to complete an upshift as does our test driver (0.23 seconds vs. 0.61 seconds). Multiply that difference over the length of a solo course or drag strip and you're talking about a lifetime. This simple fact will keep the SMT from being a real performance option. For now, at least.

The SMT's launch technique is so conservative it gives up 0.7 seconds in 0 to 30 mph acceleration relative to the five-speed MR2.

We couldn't stand it, so we tried a few unconventional launches. You've heard of a neutral drop before, right?

Revving the engine to about 4500 rpm, we slid the gear selector from neutral into the "plus" gate and gritted our teeth. What the MR2 did next ranged between oddly abusive and completely unpredictable. The car would hesitate for an unpredictable amount of time and then shoot off the line with the stench of burning clutch and some truly awful sounds from the drivetrain. It quickly became obvious that driving it like we stole it isn't advisable, but it is quicker. It shaved four tenths of a second off the car's 0 to 30 time (down to within 0.3 seconds of the five-speed car). The SMT, by the way, worked flawlessly during the remainder of our time with the car, despite the abuse.

At the end of the quarter mile, our not-so-advisable technique was 0.4 seconds quicker than a conventional launch in the SMT but still 0.8 seconds slower than the five-speed. Abuse aside, the main problem with this technique is that there seemed to be no consistency between the time we'd drop the car into first gear and when it actually began moving, which makes it unusable for drag racing or Solo II competition.

It seems Toyota tuned the SMT conservatively to eliminate warranty hassles down the road. Maybe aggressive shifting would lead to long-term durability problems in the MR2's five-speed transaxle, we don't know. And neither did anyone we spoke with at Toyota. Fact is, it might bet a simple matter of software calibration to tune the SMT for aggressive shifts, which begs the question of a sport-shift mode. Why isn't there one? This option, which could be manually switched on by the driver, and default to the off position at startup, would allow enthusiasts to have the best of both worlds--fast, aggressive shifts when they want them and the convenience of clutchless shifting for everyday driving.

The real magic of this system, however, is its value. The SMT-equipped MR2 Spyder costs only $780 more than a comparably equipped five-speed model. While it's not what we would call F1-level execution, it's certainly an exciting step forward for enthusiasts. Those who will accept no compromises in their driving experience will still buy the manual. But the SMT will introduce a new generation to performance driving, and make it a lot easier for them to go relatively quickly.

Ultimately, with quicker shifting, systems like this will be the answer for any die-hard driving geek who regularly has to deal with traffic. Sequential transmissions like this one have potential to offer enthusiasts the best of both worlds. And who doesn't want that?

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